Standard Lemma guide

wok

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /wɒk/
  • US: /wɑk/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: walk (cot–caught merger)
  • rhymes with -ɒk
  • CMU ARPABET: W AA1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A large, round-bottomed cooking pan used in East Asian cooking.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: cooking, food, lifestyle

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any dish prepared using such a pan.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Europe

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To prepare oriental cuisine using a wok.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

pan with a convex bottom; used for frying in Chinese cooking

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pan, cooking pan

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Cantonese 鑊 /镬 (wok6).

Across languages

Translations

52 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: وُوك (wūk) — large round pan
  • Armenian: վոկ (vok) — large round pan
  • Bulgarian: уок (uok) — large round pan
  • Burmese: ဒယ်အိုး (daiui:) — large round pan
  • Chinese Cantonese: 鑊 /镬 (wok6) — large round pan
  • Hakka Chinese: 鑊 /镬 (vo̍k) — large round pan
  • Chinese: 鼎 (zh-min-nan) — large round pan
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鍋 /锅 (guō) — large round pan
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鑊 /镬 (huò) — large round pan
  • Chinese Mandarin: 炒鍋 /炒锅 (chǎoguō) — large round pan
  • Czech: pánev wok — large round pan
  • Danish: wok — large round pan
  • Dutch: wok — large round pan
  • Esperanto: uoko — large round pan
  • Esperanto: volbopato — large round pan
  • Faroese: vokk — large round pan
  • Finnish: wokkipannu — large round pan
  • Finnish: vokkipannu — large round pan
  • French: wok — large round pan
  • Galician: wok — large round pan
  • German: Wok — large round pan
  • Hebrew: ווק — large round pan
  • Icelandic: wok-panna — large round pan
  • Indonesian: wajan — large round pan
  • Irish: wok — large round pan
  • Japanese: 中華鍋 (Chūka-nabe) — large round pan
  • Khmer: ខ្ទះ (kteah) — large round pan
  • Korean: 웍 (Wok) — large round pan
  • Malay: kuali — large round pan
  • Māori: pararaha — large round pan
  • Polish: wok — large round pan
  • Portuguese: wok — large round pan
  • Russian: вок (vok) — large round pan
  • Scottish Gaelic: wok — large round pan
  • Spanish: wok — large round pan
  • Swedish: wok — large round pan
  • Swedish: wokpanna — large round pan
  • Tagalog: kawali — large round pan
  • Tagalog: tulyasi — large round pan
  • Tagalog: talyasi — large round pan
  • Thai: กระทะ (grà-tá) — large round pan
  • Turkish: wok tava — large round pan
  • Vietnamese: xanh — large round pan
  • Vietnamese: chảo — large round pan
  • Vietnamese: sanh — large round pan
  • Welsh: woc — large round pan
  • Zhuang: rek — large round pan
  • Zhuang: cauq — large round pan
  • Dutch: wokken — to use a wok
  • Finnish: wokata — to use a wok
  • Spanish: wokiar — to use a wok
  • Swedish: woka — to use a wok